Taking It Back To The Basics - What Is Digital Marketing?

Although you may think you know exactly what digital marketing is, have you considered the basic elements that come together to create a successful digital campaign that attracts and captivates the most valuable customers and clients?

Digital marketing composes of all the marketing efforts that use electronic devices or the internet. Businesses can captivate and leverage several digital channels including social media, email, search engines and their own website to connect with prospect and current customers and/or clients.

Digital marketers should have a clear vision of how each digital marketing campaign will support their overall marketing strategy. They should use a combination of marketing processes to ensure that their desired messages reach potential and existing customers and/or clients through the use of relevant and engaging content.

There are several digital marketing methods that can be used in conjunction with one another to create a successful campaign. For example, content marketing can be used to create a series of engaging content such as blogs, whitepapers or eBooks that discuss current themes in the industry and social media can be used as a platform to promote and create awareness around these areas through the use of paid and organic posts. Email marketing is an opportunity to further share the content created, by encouraging users to download the content or by inspiring the user to click through to the site.

We will discuss some of the most common digital marketing tactics, the channels involved with each and how they can be incorporated into the digital strategy.

DIGITAL MARKETING METHODS

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is the process by which websites are optimised to rank higher in the search engines results pages. This is known as organic marketing, as it encourages ‘free’ traffic to websites and implies that the website has earnt its place in the search engine results place without the use of paid ads. You can visit our SEO services page for more info on this area of digital marketing.

Pay Per Click (PPC)

The most common form of PPC is Google AdWords, a programme that allows you to pay for the top positions of Google’s search results page at a price per click. PPC can also be used for paid ads on Facebook, sponsored messages on LinkedIn and promoted tweets on Twitter. You can visit our PPC services page for more info on this area of digital marketing.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is a useful digital method of communicating with current and prospect audiences, customers and clients. Email campaigns can be used in a variety of ways, including promoting discounts and company events, on-site content (including blogs and eBooks), customer welcome emails or as a means of encouraging users to click through to your site. You can visit our email marketing services page for more info on this area of digital marketing.

Social Media Marketing

Social media can be used as a platform to increase brand awareness, generate leads, drive traffic and engage with your audience on a personal level. Social channels include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn and Google +. Using social media can be a free marketing tool, however paid ads can be used to increase and specialise the audience you wish to target. You can visit our social media marketing services page for more info on this area of digital marketing.

Content Marketing

All kinds of content can be created for a whole host of different reasons, but it is important that the content you create has a purpose to generate brand awareness, increase traffic to your site, create leads and generate new customers/clients. Content can come in many different forms, from standard blogs and whitepapers to more visual eBooks and infographics. The type you choose should be a reflection of your business and should be suitable to the industry you operate in. You can visit our content marketing services page for more info on this area of digital marketing.

ADVANTAGES OF DIGITAL MARKETING

More and more businesses are implementing digital marketing tactics into their overall marketing strategy. The benefits of using digital marketing methods are becoming more prevalent every day, especially as the consumer dynamic is changing to more product research and purchasing online.

- Trackable & Measurable Results- Analytics tools and other online metrics tools can be used to establish how successful your marketing campaign or overall strategy is or has been. You can gather in-depth detail on exactly how customers use and interact with your website and respond to your social activity. - Personalisation- Digital marketing provides you with the opportunity to target your customers on a personal level, with personalised landing pages and unique promotions for consumers at different stages in the purchasing process. Personalisation can help to build a stronger relationship with your customers and clients and is made easier with the use of digital channels such as social media and email marketing. - Increased Conversion Rates- With a vast variety of digital platforms, your consumers are only a few clicks away from completing a purchase. Offline media often requires more effort from the customer to complete a purchase, making digital marketing seamless and often immediate.

The way your company captivates and utilises digital marketing has the potential to transform your level of reach and engagement with your customers and clients. It is important to remember that you need to establish a strong strategy before you start to create campaigns or distribute content. If you’re looking to start or improve your digital marketing, get in contact with the Adido team today.

Discover Attention: what is it and why you need it to succeed in the digital realm. Turn brand strangers into loyal brand followers and get your brand the focus it requires within a world of marketing noise.